mtheory

As a follow up on the industry discussion in another thread, - a pretty good summary from classic 'The Producers' scene.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjn1Y9YcIQM   Almost 50 years on, 'creative accounting' is very much alive and well, -   http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2010/07/07/with-the-right-accountants-even-harry-potter-can-flop/   No wonder the artists get screwed.    

This was DOPs work.     This was VFX Supe's work with Director's comments.         Giving Miranda sole credit for a collaborative effort is wrong. He should've at least invited the VFX supe up on the stage to share the award with.   And Doyle could probably kick both of their asses by shooting all of this in-camera.   I know the crazy bastard could do it.  :D

I voted no because while I think Vimeo On Demand changes the game it will have a mild effect on the industry for the simple reason that it does not change the players. What I realized from analyzing the 5D revolution is that the imaginary army of Tarantino's and Rodriguezs' I expected to hit the Internet never materialized. Instead, production was made more affordable for existing filmmakers, who would've been shooting films even without 5D's appearance.   No technological band-aid, whether easier production with 5D or distribution with Vimeo will change the fact that in the end it is only the human factor that counts for 99% of success in filmmaking, - the ability to deliver amazing content and that seems to be a very finite resource. While there have been some decent films from new directors around the internet here and there, much of new content created were just wedding videos, docs and sentimental DOF slideshows titled as "films" without any narrative story or dialogue.   The most interesting filmmakers to appear in the last 5 years like Garreth Edwards, Neil Blompkamp and Gareth Evans came very much from traditional industry means and were either funded and distributed through the old traditional means. ( Though Blomkamp did gain through YouTube exposure ) So where are our Internet filmmaking stars? Vincent LaForet, Philip Bloom and Shane Hurlbut were all seasoned professionals before 5D revolution hit, so we can't credit technology ( whether 5D, Netflix, Amazon, Vimeo or YouTube ) to their success.   So I think Vimeo On Demand will make life easier for existing filmmakers. Like the Don Hertzfeldton above. There will be a handful of decent films ( mostly docs ) coming out, but mostly the quality of content from new players will be average, if that. I remember the iTunes store first opened Steve Jobs was asked why Apple makes it so difficult for independently produced musicians/filmmakers to get distribution there. ( You still have to go through an intermediary company that must be vetted by Apple, and that still doesn't guarantee distribution. ) His response was very blunt, - "We only want good content." He was clearly implying that indies were not up to standard. It made me mad at the time, but over the years I ended up agreeing with him.   I'm looking forward to seeing some good docs and niche films on Vimeo from veteran filmmakers that I could only catch at festivals otherwise, but to catch the next Tarantino I will still head for the traditional cinema.   I hope to be proven wrong.    mtheory

Canon peddling same old tech in a new package again.   If they don't deliver 4:2:2 internal recording on the 7D2 I'm bailing out on them.    16 days left till NAB. Tick, tock, Canon.  B)

There's also a culture in Hollywood of screwing over VFX firms with a common saying among producers : "I haven't done my job if I haven't bankrupted a VFX studio." I hope the VFX guys get their union and stop underbidding each other. 

Do you guys think this is a game changer? Why?   Thanks,   mtheory

@Bruno : Did you know that in Hollywood DPs are not paid for any of their time while collaborating with VFX guys ( Unlike directors )? Yep, in the current system their cheques stop the moment production ends, that's one of the reasons working against DPs now. Recently in "Total Recall" key action sequences were basically directed/dp's by the VFX guys in pre-viz and the camera movements went into the movie practically unchanged from the animatic.    @jgharding / @markm : Unfortunately most arthouse films are failures at the box office, - my own top 10 arthouse films have horrible box office results. ( Except "Pulp Fiction" ) It's the massive VFX blockbusters with 3000+ screen releases that are actually keeping the industry afloat and constantly on the cutting edge of technology. Since Hollywood is a business we will probably be seeing more Avatars, Avengers and Hobbits, not less.   Hopefully the VOD market will let indies flourish.

Sean's argument is more logical.   Leang's work is better lit.   1:1 guys, okay? :)

Hello everyone, a long time poster from the shuttled Cinema5D forums here, this is my first post.   The tension between DOPs and VFX Supervisors has been heating up for the past decade as Hollywood shifted more into more blockbusters with movies like Spider-man, Matrix, LOTR, 300, Avatar increasingly inviting VFX supes to come in and take over the duty creating the "look and feel" of shots, sequences and whole sections of the movies from DOPs, who are understandably getting pissed for being pushed out of the creative process.   Is it good or bad? I don't know...when I look at "In The Mood For Love" by Chris Doyle I see amazing cinematography. But I can say the same thing about "300" or "Life of Pi", films with cinematography created almost completely by VFX. Both have incredible attention to detail, mood, color, contrast, light and shadow.    And now Hollywood sees them as equal too. Cinematography is now officially a combination of real world and digital techniques.   DOPs will either have to accept that they are not as important to the process as before, or evolve their creative control into the post production because their purely photographic skills are not enough to deliver beautiful cinematography anymore.   Guys like Doyle are going to be increasingly marginalized, so I have a lot of sympathy for old school wolves like him.   Deakins was robbed.     P.S - BTW, I've been a fan of Miranda starting from his commercials with Fincher and think Benjamin Button had Oscar worthy cinematography. Claudio actually hangs out alot on various indie forums and might actually read this post, so let's take it easy, the guy is an absolute kickass DP too.